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One of the things I've wanted to do on here for a long time, and even included in my 101 Things in 1001 Days, was to create a "Cast of Characters" page. Basically, I've felt that one of the things that has hindered my writing on here is that I wanted to be careful about maintaining some level of my friends' anonymity, especially since not all of them are aware of this blog. But at the same time, most of the things I do involve my friends. This led to me not writing about much of anything that didn't involve just me and TS, or a few friends who know enough about this blog and haven't expressed a desire to be kept off of it completely.
After thinking about it for a few months and discussing it with TS, I realized that my desire to protect everyone's identity, while well-intentioned, is kind of ridiculous. While I may not be on Facebook, I can't think of a single one of my friends who isn't... except possibly Sarah from San Diego, who reads, comments, and has had photos on here, so she's already been outed. :-) And as far as I know, none of these people are trying to remain anonymous on Facebook. And, I know that photos of myself are on some of their pages, and sometimes tagged with my name, including my last name, and that doesn't bother me. So I figure that if they can post photos of me with my real name without asking my permission and I'm not bothered by it, then why can't I mention any of my friends by name or ever include their photos.
So, here's what I've decided to do. I'm going to start using people's first names only and including them in some photos. However, if anyone goes by a pseudonym online, such as on their own blog or Flickr or Twitter, and doesn't make their first name public, I will refer to that person by their pseudonym (unless they comment here with there real name, in which case I will use that to keep it less confusing). If there are a lot of people with the same name, or in the case of one particular friend who has an incredibly unique name, I'll come up with a nickname. In most cases, I will not use anyone's last names (I don't know why it would be necessary), but I may use their initial. (For example, there are a lot of Sara(h)s in my life.)
If anyone wants a photo of themselves taken down, I will do so. If anyone prefers that I not use their real name, I won't (although I'll ask them for an alternative pseudonym).
So, now that that's all out there, I'd like to introduce you to a few of the key people in my life, who you might see a lot more of around here...